Florence says:
Michael Davis is a Trustee and Treasurer of Wikimedia Foundation. Formerly the CEO of Chicago Options Associates, where Jimmy Wales worked, Michael is chief operating officer of Wikia, Inc., and lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Tim Shell, CEO of Bomis, Inc., resigned from the Board last December. As recently as one year ago, Jimmy Wales, Tim Shell, and Michael Davis were the three permanent, non-elected trustees out of a total of five trustees, as defined in the bylaws. Now there are seven trustees, and they're talking about expanding this to nine.

The departure of Davis is further evidence that Wikia, Inc., co-founded by Jimmy and Angela Beesley (Angela also resigned from the Board last year), is distancing itself from Wikipedia. The participation of Jimmy in Wikipedia postings and Wikipedia administration (not counting his speeches, which generate speaking fees and also provide an opportunity to promote Wikia, Inc.), has dropped dramatically in 2007 as compared to 2006.

Rats leaving a sinking ship

This is a more important gap as it appears that Sue Gardner didn't exactly land the position of WMF CEO but is just some kind of consultant. Goes to show you can't believe everything you read in random blogs.

So they seem to be led by someone one with less than a full employment relationship to the corporation.

I heard that the "consultant and special advisor" title for Sue Gardner was due to immigration difficulties — something about how you have to justify importing a foreigner (she's Canadian) for a top position in a U.S. corporation. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't even know if she's living in Florida now or if she's telecommuting from Canada. Clearly it was intended that she be the executive director when the Foundation decided to hire her.

I have been surprised how low-keyed her approach has been so far. As far as I know she has shown no discernible leadership at all.

I am most curious about Florence calling the replacement of Davis as a "requirement". Is this just her botching the English language again, or was something handed down from a higher authority that Davis had to go? Michael's term on the WMF board expires December 2007, so that might be what Florence meant. But, why would he not be eligible for reinstatement? Additionally, Jimbo's and Jan-Bart's terms also expire that same month, but nobody is suggesting that the Board will be "required" to replace them!

I get the impression that Davis himself got spooked by contacts from the IRS, perhaps as a result of a Form 3949-A being submitted about Wikia, Inc. and Wikimedia Foundation, which may have included information that was exposed in Wikipedia Review blog posts such as this one, thus leading him to privately inform the WMF Board that he would not be seeking re-election at the end of his term in December. Thus, Florence might refer to that as a "requirement", being that Davis has essentially told them -- "I can't take the heat any more. The world is onto our scam with Wikia and Amazon. You're going to need to find a replacement for me."

(Actual course of events may have varied from the above scenario, but it's the one I'm choosing to believe.)



Bottom line -- thank you very much for finding this information, Daniel. It's amazing to me that our community can be on top of these important developments within 24 hours of their happening. It's bittersweet for me, that after December I won't be able to rail any more against Davis as a WMF conflict of interest (though, there's still the $800,000 he managed to hide from legal surrender). That will leave only Jimbo and, to a secondary degree, Angela, as the only objects of the personal financial conflict that I find so disdainful about Wikia and Wikipedia.

Greg

Well, if the Foundation is trying to "hide" from authorities that she is not "really" the Executive Director (such as how she's described on her WMF user page) as "a consultant and special advisor", maybe she's deliberately avoiding making any public decisions or actions that would bring the deception into full view of the government whose laws they're trying to circumvent.

(Is anyone surprised that the Foundation would hire an Executive Director while simultaneously obfuscating the relationship so that they can avoid legal consequences?)

Okay, okay, maybe it's not as devious as it seems -- Daniel Brandt was speculating, after all.

Anyway, nobody can deny that Sue's contributions to the WMF website have been provocative and sweeping:

Special:Contributions/Sgardner



Greg

Kat Walsh and GeradM edited her 2 paragraph userpage. I'd peg her as a delegator.

Here's more juicy info:

Resolution:Management_Consultant

Try clicking the PDF file links. They're so "open", aren't they?

Greg

And don't forget, Jimmy also stepped down as board chair, although it's not clear to what extent he did so voluntarily.

"Books are currently handled by Oleta. And Mona acts as a financial officer (she is officially financial consultant right now)."

Mona is a chartered accountant from Toronto and another former employee of CBC (probably why she's also officially a "consultant right now"). How long before the WMF reincorporates in Canada?

I have no idea who Oleta is. Anyone?

Not much information. Very recent.

This is probably her too.

Peoplefinder.com shows a Oleta M. McHenry, age 37, in St. Petersburg, Florida. She's probably a local accountant/bookkeeper who answered a help-wanted ad placed by the Foundation.

Which would make her pretty much a non-combatant.

Yeah, that makes sense.

FloFlo informed me that Sue's unusual title is due only to an administrative complication that they hope to have resolved in another month or so. They are not looking for an Executive Director. Sue completed that search.

Greg

Does anyone have any insights into the departure of Carolyn Doran as COO of WMF in July? Flo posted this today on wikien-l today. As you can see the departure was kind of quiet.

Why does a business entity with a total staff the size of the second shift at the 7-11 have such a proliferation of CEOs, Management Consultants, COOs, GCs. Communication's Mangers? Just what might a "COO" actually do in such a thinly staff entity? My heart goes out to to Cary Bass who seems to on the bottom of a very top heavy organizational chart.